The
discrimination of the Australian Aboriginal people in terms of the stolen
generation era and land rights for the past200 years has affected
the relationship between white Australians and the Aboriginals in terms of
inability for reconciliation in the contemporary era.

“Imagine the government officials calling on your family to remove your
children permanently from your care” (Barbara,1990) because they
are black and they have a different religion. Now is the time to
ask ourselves about the real reasons for the alcoholism,
homelessness and other problems of the contemporary Aboriginal society and tie Aboriginal past
with their circumstances in the present time.

In 1910,The policy of
“half castes”was
introduced by the Australian settlers towards the Aboriginal people.The new
policy was introduced in order to solve the
problems with them, which, by that time was becoming
bigger. One of these policies was responsible for what we now call the stolen
generation. This policy has caused a destruction of the
identity
and culture of the children who were taken away.

These
policies were supported by white Australians including both
civilians andStates
and Federal
Government. John William Bleakley, who used to work as the
director of Native Affairs from 1939, was one of the people that had a strong
opinion in regards to the issue of “the half castes’’. By looking
at Bleakley’s policies during his work term, we can see
that one of his theories was to takethe indigenous children as early as they
could from the influence of their tribe. Moreover it included the
total disconnection from one tribe to another.

According
to Barbara Cummings in her book titled ‘Take this Child’, Bleakley’s policy
was:

‘…one of biological as well
as cultural assimilation and depended firmly on the control of the breeding
habits of those who were ostensibly in the process of becoming ‘more European’.
(Barbara,1990,13).

By
looking at some of thecases dealing
with the removal of the native children, we realise how
tragic it was. Ethel for example was taken from her family in Katherine, to be in a half-caste
home with a part-Aboriginal boyand girl. Ethel says:

“I went to
Katherine to look for some people that might know me but nobody knew me. They
all died. The old people that knew me or my father, they died”.
(Barbara.1990,21-22.)

The authorities had given Ethel
a
new birthdate and new surname. Furthermore they had changed her name from Dassy
to Ethel because there were many Dassy’s with them.By focusing on Ethel as an example of these
children who had been taken, we can see that the new life for them was not
better than the one they had with their parents.There was not enough food for
them and generally they struggled.

Roach is a different example of
children of stolen generation era.He was taken from his family for the reason
that he had a relative from his white grandfather, knows what
they went through his new parents treated him well but his life was shocked
when he received a letter from his sister, the letter told Roach that
his mother died.

As a result of the stolen generation
era, we can see the effects that this has had on contemporary Aboriginal
society.For Aboriginal society in Victoria, for
example, there are more than ninety percent of Aboriginals who had been stolen
from their families worked in legal service for criminal charges in 1976.Roach my second example after reading the letter
from his sister, he ran away from his home and lost the next 14 years of his life
drinking alcohol, sleeping in parks and playing guitar to earn money for more
alcohol as many others Aboriginals all over Australia had done.

Effects

Yes

No

No answer

Total

Physical ill-health

21.4%

36.6%

40.0%

100%

Mental problems

14.1%

48.4%

37.5%

100%

Substance abuse

16.4%

44.7%

38.9%

100%

Imprisonment

25.3%

40.0%

34.7%

100%

Effects of forcible removal relying on the Australian
social justice statistics -1994.

For Roach’s situation it has
been said that “there are two sides to his life, the pain of the separation on
the one hand and the artistic achievement on the other. That’s true for many
thousands of removed children, which presents a particular responsibility to
all historians of the stolen generations.” ( Peter Read. 1998).

It’s obvious that the stolen
generation has effected Aboriginal people and modifies their behavioral which can
lead them to alcoholism, homelessness and other psychological problems. Yet the
discrimination against Aboriginals wasn’t only seen with stolen generation. Land
rights issues are still considered as another
big issue which has effected the reconciliation between Aboriginal and white
Australians.

After
the British came to Australia, many Aboriginal people were driven out from their
lands, forced into reserves, and killed in battles for their land. They were no longer allowed to live as
they had done for tens of thousands of years, and they were not
able to become equal partners and citizens to the people who had taken their
land.

To clarify the issue of land rights we have to
comprehend the relationship between Aboriginal and
their land. Professor Stanner had said in his description of thisrelationship:

“No English
words are enough to give a sense of the links between an Aboriginal group and
its homeland.Our word
‘home’, as warm and suggestive though it be, dose not match the Aboriginal word
that may mean ‘camp’, ‘heart’ ‘country’, ‘everlasting home’, ‘totem place’,
‘life source’, ‘spirit centre’ and much else in one”. (Yunu Pingu G. 1995,42)

As a result of these links,
it’s clear that land has always been a fundamental factor for Aboriginal society.
It has a physical and spiritual importance for them. In addition Aboriginal
culture has been always relied on the land for the reasons of subsistence and
because every Aboriginal generation has been born in this land.

There is absolutely no doubt
that the issue of land rights has a strong impact on modern Aboriginal society.
Indigenous communities are the most disadvantaged communities in Australian
society and many official reports concluded that as a result of land rights
impact for the past 200 years. For instance there are sixty percent or more of
the Aboriginal people who do not have the same standard of living that white
Australians have.( Yunupingu G,1997,40 ) And
by looking to Australian social indicators, we can see that the most poor,
uneducated, unemployed, unhealthy people are indigenous.

Moreover, as we have seen
the strong links between land and Aboriginal culture, we can understand the
destruction to the Aboriginal identity where they do not have access to their
land.

“land rights is a social justice issue because
the result of not having access to your land is the destruction of culture,
language and spirituality”. (Yunupingu
G,1997,40)

On
the other hand there has been some positive result of the land rights impact on
Aboriginal society. Aboriginal people now have the right to own and control
their lands in some places, after the implementation of act called the “Native
Title Act”.This means the recognition of Aboriginal land rights, and claims to land.In Queensland for
example, Aboriginal people who live in some part of this stat like MurrayIsland had
the right to own their land by a decision of the High Court on 3 June, 1992,
which was an historical decision.Thiscame after more than two
hundred years font refusing the subsistence of Indigenous
traditional rights to land.

The
Mabo issue led by an Aboriginal man called Eddie Mabo and another four Meriam
people who asserted that.

“the islands had been continuously in inhabited
and exclusively possessed by their people who lived in permanent settled
communities with their own social political organization” (Ronald P, 1995).

By focusing on the
issues of the stolen generation and land rights we can reach a summary that
these two issues have one of the most strong impacts on the inability for
reconciliation between both sides. They
are the main reasons that have effected the relationship between these two
groups.Therefore, I believe that in
order for reconciliation, Australians must do a an official and National apology
to these people whom they had taken from their families and try by all the
possible ways to help them in order to have a good life as the rest of the Australians.And in the same order Australia should give the Aboriginal the right to own and control their land.

Bibliography

Books

vCummings,B.
(1990) Take This Child:Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Studies.Cannbera

vYunu Pingu,G.
Dodson,M and Mla,J,A,K.(1997) Our Land Is Our Life: University of Queensland. Queensland.